Frederick Dennstedt []

A Metro Red Line train, photographed in January by Fred Camino of .

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Central City Association is hoping to make this year's holiday season a bit more car-free, working to line up private sponsorships that would allow the Metro Red Line to run until 3am on the weekends. The extended service would run from the beginning of November through New Years' weekend.

Tracey Chavira, CCA's Director of Government Affairs, said today that the extra service would cost $130,500, and that the organization is having to work quickly to get a deal done that would have service running in November.

In today's edition of its "CCA Delivers" newsletter, the organization said that it has met with the offices of Councilmembers Jose Huizar, Eric Garcetti, and Wendy Greuel. It hopes that the trial run would "reveal there is sufficient ridership to sustain a permanent extended schedule."

The extended hours would apply to the Red Line between Downtown and North Hollywood. The current service cuts off between midnight and 1am, depending on the starting point and destination. Service used to run slightly later, but hours were cut in 2005.